


la vie en rose

by vreaa



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Best Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Happy ending though, Holiday, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Paris - Freeform, Pining, Romance, They are in love your honour, all my favourite troupes in one fic, background dnf if you squint, god there is so much fluff, hoho, i could never do that to my faves, so much fluff happens before the angst dw, this is how self indulgent this is, very very self indulgent, you guys are in for an absolute treat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-24 14:42:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vreaa/pseuds/vreaa
Summary: Sapnap beams at him, oblivious to the lightness in his head and ignorant of the loud,loudpounding of his heart, but Karl watches the corners of his eyes crease, stares at the tilted corners of his lips, and thinks he wouldn’t ever rather fall in love with anyone else.—Or, Karl and Sapnap take a week-long trip to Paris.
Relationships: Background Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap
Comments: 19
Kudos: 91





	la vie en rose

**Author's Note:**

> covid doesn't exist here :thumbsup: enjoy the fluff losers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Like,” Sapnap laughs, lashes fluttering shut for a brief moment as he blinks, “we’ve been here for less than a day and I’m ready to fly back, pack up everything I need and come live here permanently.”
> 
> “Really, Sap?” Karl whines, teasing, “You’d abandon me back in our dorm at the mercy of _Dream and George ?_ ” 
> 
> Sapnap scoffs. “Of course not,” he says, like it’s obvious, “you’re coming with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello!! this is the paris fic :) i got inspired to write this about a week and a half ago, when i first found this rendition of [la vie en rose](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdfyVuYb_lo) by michael bublé (who just so happens to be the artist i grew up on), and then i went on youtube and discovered [this version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ba_WoSZXvw), and basically this song hasn't left my brain for the last ten days :thumbsup:
> 
> anyway enough of my rambling HAHAHA welcome karlnap nation to my humble abode
> 
> mandatory disclaimer that this is just for fun, please don't shove the ship or fic into the cc's faces!! if they grow uncomfortable with anything like this i will not hesitate to take this fic down :)) thank you for respecting everyone's boundaries :D
> 
> disclaimer #2 that i know next to nothing about paris and french, but google translate and tourist websites are my best friends as of now and i am barely hanging on :thumbsup: please tell me if anything i mentioned was incorrect!!
> 
> enjoy :]

* * *

_hold me close and hold me fast_

_the magic spell you cast_

_this is la vie en rose_

* * *

Paris — the City of Lights, the Fashion Capital, the City of Love.

 _The City of_ Love _, huh?_ George had nudged Karl's side and smirked, months back, when they'd still been planning the trip, _is there something you want to tell us, Karl and Sapnap?_

 _Yes_ , Karl had said then, mock seriousness lining his words, _Sapnap and I are going to elope there and have three kids._

 _Can confirm_ , Sapnap had chimed in, flashing Karl a sneaky grin that made affection dawn in the middle of his chest, _We've rented the entire Luxembourg Palace for our wedding and bought a big purple house by the Paris beach._

Dream had burst into laughter. _Paris doesn't even_ have _a beach, you moron._

He supposes he'd been an idiot to brush aside the flutters in his heart and the tingles on his skin that came with the connotations of him and Sapnap together, because here they are now, on a ratty mat under a tree in the Tuileries Gardens, and Sapnap's looking at him with a mouthful of macarons and a smile that can rival the sun, and all Karl can think is _oh_.

He's in love.

He backtracks _fast_ , hoping beyond hope that Sapnap doesn't catch the heat in his cheeks and the trembling in his fingers, and plays the words out again in his head.

He's in love.

In _love_. 

With _Sapnap_.

Sapnap, who’s loud but soft and kind but daring all at once, who has a fire in his gaze and a sweetness in his soul that can’t be compared to _any_ pastry in this sugar-filled city, whose smile makes every cell in Karl’s body sing and whose laugh makes Karl’s heart melt into a sticky, honey-like goop.

And, honestly? Karl thinks he’s okay with that.

Somehow, acknowledging this feels like coming home. Like embracing a part of him that has always existed, albeit out of sight. It feels like he’s finally settled into his own skin, like he’s finally _whole_.

Sapnap beams at him, oblivious to the lightness in his head and ignorant of the loud, _loud_ pounding of his heart, but Karl watches the corners of his eyes crease, stares at the tilted corners of his lips, and thinks he wouldn’t ever rather fall in love with anyone else.

* * *

“This place is so pretty,” Sapnap remarks, sweeping his eyes over the view of the park around them.

Karl follows his line of sight and marvels in the way autumn blankets itself over Paris, marvels in the auburn of the leaves and the coolness in the air, marvels in the clouds of vapour that forms before him when he exhales.

“Yeah,” he agrees, his gaze ultimately falling on the little strands of hair that have fallen over Sapnap’s eyes, “it is.”

“Like,” Sapnap laughs, lashes fluttering shut for a brief moment as he blinks, “we’ve been here for less than a day and I’m ready to fly back, pack up everything I need and come live here permanently.”

“Really, Sap?” Karl whines, teasing, “You’d abandon me back in our dorm at the mercy of _Dream and George_?” 

Sapnap scoffs. “Of course not,” he says, like it’s _obvious_ , “you’re coming with me.”

And somehow those seven words manage to light fireworks in Karl’s chest, manage to weave wings onto his back and take him into a world of lightness and emotions so tender that he’s afraid that if he so much as _breathes_ , it’ll shatter. He bottles these feelings up, though they sparkle and pulse, before they manage to squirm onto his tongue and manifest in the form of three simple words. Three simple words he cannot say — at least, not right now.

He swallows.

“I’d go anywhere with you, Sapnap,” he says, honestly. 

Sapnap glances over at him, fondness evident in the curve of his lips, and Karl's chest swells.

“I’d go anywhere with you too,” is the reply, soft and genuine. Karl feels meteorites streak beneath his skin.

“Besides,” Sapnap continues, “I don’t think you’d want to stay _anywhere_ alone with the two of them for more than five minutes. _God_ , you’d third-wheel so hard, it’s not even funny.”

Karl giggles. “Speaking from personal experience?”

Sapnap nods, solemn. “I’m so sick of the two of them.” Their gazes connect, and Sapnap’s deep-ocean eyes hold nothing but lighthearted truth. “I’d much rather hang out with you.”

A heady rush seeps into Karl’s veins. “That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Sapnap breathes, and with gold and red leaves tumbling in the wind behind him, he is so, unbearably, beautiful. “It really is.”

* * *

“You have a little something on your cheek,” Karl points out, when they’re clearing up the mat they’re sitting on.

They’ve spent hours just sitting here at this spot, talking and breathing in the fresh Paris air and admiring the sea of burnt orange around them. Sapnap’s getting restless, and frankly, Karl is too. It’s about time they begin exploring the rest of the Jardin Des Tuileries.

“Really?” Sapnap begins comically patting at his cheeks, and his fingers somehow manage to completely miss the area where a blue crumb of macaron rests.

Fondness is like effervescence in his heart, bright and bubbling and babbling.

His feet move, and before he knows it he’s crossed the distance between them and his fingers are reaching up to brush the crumb from that spot just below Sapnap’s left eye. (How it got there, Karl’s not sure either, but it somehow only manages to make Sapnap seem all the more endearing.)

“Here,” he hums, as his thumb swipes the crumb away, and then it _hits_ him.

Just how close they are, just how smooth Sapnap’s skin is, just how incredibly _dark_ Sapnap’s eyes are. He can almost drown in them, he thinks. Dissipate in the thick midnight of his irises.

Their noses are inches apart. The distance between them seems to be electrified, sparking shivers over his skin and plunging him into a state of motionlessness, and he’s drunk on it. Drunk on their proximity, drunk on the cool Parisian air, drunk on the way the tendons in Sapnap’s jaw flex.

Sapnap’s gaze sears straight into his soul, and Karl feels all the air in his lungs leave his lips in a singular heartbeat. 

He forces himself to take in a breath, tears his eyes away from Sapnap's pretty, _pretty_ lashes, and gathers the scrambled pieces of him together.

“Eat more carefully next time, silly,” he chides shakily, a whisper, before reluctantly – God, _so_ reluctantly – pulling away.

“Okay,” Sapnap croaks, and Karl turns, certain that Sapnap _had_ to have heard the steady slamming of his heart in his ribcage, certain that there'd been _something_ in Sapnap's eyes that he can't quite place, certain that the prickling where his thumb had come into contact with Sapnap's skin will _never_ go away.

He busies himself with checking the grass for anything they might've left behind, and prays for the suggestive voice in his head to _please, shut up_.

* * *

Sapnap likes to take pictures.

It’s something Karl’s never really noticed about him, but it’s so much more apparent right here, right now, with Sapnap lifting his camera to take pictures everywhere they go.

A snap of the azure blue sky and the majestic cotton clouds, a shot of the bright yellow flowers swaying gently in the breeze, a photograph of the building in the distance, pale and imposing against the amber trees and fading green grass.

Karl has yet to see any of the pictures he’s taken, but he already knows, without a doubt, that they’re good.

He can see it in the subtle way Sapnap grins down at his camera, can see it in the amused passion shining in Sapnap’s eyes as his fingers press down on the camera buttons, can see it in the focused set of Sapnap’s jaw as he steadies his hands on the camera.

Getting to witness this side of Sapnap feels intimate, close. Karl loves this feeling.

He glances up, watches as leaves of gold and burnt umber sway in the wind, and shoves his hands into his pockets.

Paris is so, so stunning in the autumn, and Karl doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to make it sound as perfect as it really is.

All of a sudden, he feels eyes on him, and hears a minute, distinct _click_.

Spinning, he turns to meet Sapnap, who’s grinning sheepishly at him while waving the camera in his hands.

“Sorry,” Sapnap calls, a twinkle in his eye, “it was a nice shot!”

Karl laughs, feels the fuzziness spread all the way into the roots of his bones, and waits for Sapnap to jog up to him.

* * *

Karl catches sight of it first.

When he does, he can’t help the way he lights up, his entire posture straightening as he points towards it.

“Look, Sap!” He gestures, letting raw excitement leak into his voice, “The carousel!”

It’s beautiful, as is everything else in this city, but something about small, golden lights on this intricately crafted attraction takes all the breath in his lungs away. 

Plastic horses are positioned tastefully on the round platform, mixed in with the occasional carriage. _It’s majestic_ , Karl can’t help but think, as awe wraps around his throat and seizes his voice in the best way possible.

Sapnap smiles, wide and affectionate. “Let’s go ride it.”

His hand shoots out and grabs Karl by the wrist, and then they’re running, wild and free and unfettered in their synchronised steps, towards the carousel. And Karl wonders how he’d gotten so lucky, to be here, in this pretty city in this pretty season, running towards a pretty carousel while being dragged along by an even prettier boy.

He’s so lucky, he thinks. So, _so_ , lucky.

Sunlight filters through the leaves and warms their backs as they wait in line for the carousel. The day seems to have slipped past them, and Karl turns briefly to admire the impending dusk, revelling in the different hues of red and orange and gold.

The sky fits right in now, among the autumn trees and falling leaves.

Sapnap bumps his side lightly with an elbow, and Karl is jolted back to the sight of kids scrambling to get onto the carousel while their parents trail warily behind them.

Sapnap quirks his lip and jerks his thumb in the direction of the carousel. “Let’s go.”

Karl’s own lips split into a smile, and he nods before proceeding to step onto the platform.

He catches sight of an empty carriage seat and makes a break for it, purpose in his every step as he loops around plastic horses and ducks from the occasional swing of an ecstatic child’s fist, and plops down on the seat. Sapnap is next to him in a flash, shrugging off his backpack to place it on his lap as he sits down.

Just in time, the carousel starts turning. 

Karl’s hands drum on the handrail excitedly, and Sapnap huffs out a laugh.

Karl takes a brief moment to take in how warm Sapnap is, pressed up next to him. Thigh against thigh, shoulder against shoulder. He looks comfortable, at ease, amused. The skin on the bridge of his nose glows bronze from the sunlight while shadows are cast over the rest of his face, and something tender comes to life within Karl’s chest. 

The world around them blurs, and it’s just him and Sapnap. Sapnap and him. Just the two of them, in a small carousel carriage, in the heart of the most romantic city in the world - and Karl can really _see_ why it’s romantic - and Karl genuinely, from the stirrings of his soul, wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

“This is fun,” he whispers, light and gleeful.

Sapnap’s eyes flash towards him, contentment dancing a vibrant dance in the midst of his pupils.

Karl looks at him. _Really_ looks at him, this ethereal being who’s chosen to come here with him to this faraway place and sit with him here under these spinning, golden, lights, and thinks he’s fallen, all over again.

* * *

Dinner, to put it simply, goes horribly.

Not "horrible" in the way that Karl wishes he's able to fold up the mere memory of it and chuck it into the void, but more "horrible" in the way that, as it turned out, the last minute Duolingo and cramming of common French phrases hadn't helped a single bit, and ordering their food had been nothing short of a disaster.

"I only remember the really basic and famous ones," Sapnap says, when the waiter has left. They're both frazzled from the desperate jabbing at their menus and embarrassed after frantically letting slip the most random assortments of French phrases they know. "Like ' _bonjour_ '," he continues, with an exaggerated accent that causes Karl to laugh, "and ' _oui_ '."

"' _Monsieur_ '," Karl chimes in, in between breaths, "' _excusez-moi_ '."

"' _Merci_ '," Sapnap chuckles, "' _je t'aime_ '."

Karl freezes, barely managing to keep up the smile on his face.

_I love you._

"What," Sapnap teases, kind eyes staring straight through his very soul, "not going to say it back?"

Karl's heart _thunders_.

 _Platonically_ , he chants in his head, and wills for the tangle of nerves in his ribs to unravel, _he means platonically_.

And that's enough, isn't it?

(For some reason, a quick stinging in his chest surfaces, prickling across his skin and dulling the edges of his smile.)

" _Je t'aime aussi_ ," he murmurs, lifting his gaze to meet Sapnap's tentatively.

_I love you too._

Sapnap beams, bright and hearty, and Karl thinks, despite the sudden, sour twist in his heart, that everything had been worth it, after all.

* * *

"Hey!" Dream's voice crackles through the speakers of Sapnap's phone. "How's Paris?"

"You guys having fun?" George adds, as Dream tilts his camera so as to capture George in the frame as well.

"We're a lot better now that _George_ isn't here, aren't we, Karl?" Sapnap quips, laughter like a melody in Karl’s ears.

“Yeah,” he doesn’t even have to think before concurring with Sapnap — it comes so incredibly naturally to him, “and, oh my God? Paris is _amazing_.”

“It’s _gorgeous_ ,” Sapnap chimes in, “the leaves are all pretty and shit.”

“And don’t get me started on the _architecture_ ,” Karl contributes, newfound passion for this city stoked by the currents of their conversation, “everything here is just so,” he gestures at the air in a fruitless attempt to convey his overwhelming adoration of the sheer _beauty_ here, “ _artistic_.”

He can feel Sapnap’s eyes following his every animated movement, and turns slightly to give him a little questioning look. 

Sapnap looks away, almost immediately, and Karl’s confusion only intensifies.

“Aw, man,” Dream laments, “that sounds so cool! I wanna be there too!”

“But you aren’t, and instead, I’m stuck here with _you_ ,” George rolls his eyes, but Karl knows from the lilts of his voice that it’s fond. “It’s been a day and I already want to move over to Wilbur’s place.”

Dream gasps, affronted. “Am I not enough for you, Georgie? How can you do this to me?”

“Maybe if you weren’t so-”

“Alright, lovebirds,” Sapnap interrupts, “all eyes on me.”

Karl stifles a giggle as he watches their shock play out frame-by-frame on Sapnap’s lagged phone screen.

“We’re not-” George starts, a protest working its way out his mouth, but Karl shuts him down immediately.

“Sap’s right, guys,” he teases, “we’re the _real_ stars of the show here.”

“Fine, fine,” Dream relents, and Karl shifts to get comfortable on his chair. “Tell us about your day, you two.”

* * *

“Can’t sleep?” Sapnap’s voice echoes through the apartment of their Airbnb, rich and smooth like silk and honey.

Caught by surprise, Karl stops in his tracks.

It’s eleven at night where they are now, whereas it’s only six in the evening back home in America, and the time difference between the two countries is so stark that it’s giving him whiplash.

He supposes Sapnap is feeling this whiplash too, considering his presence on the couch.

Sighing, he hums in agreement, making his way over to join Sapnap on the sofa. “I only managed to pass out yesterday because of the jet lag.”

He sinks into soft leather and makes a quiet sound of relief. Sapnap brings his knees up to his chest on the other side of the couch.

“Wanna try our luck on the TV?” He suggests, already reaching for the remote.

Karl shrugs. “Why not?”

The screen blinks to a start. Bright lights flash boldly against the darkness, and Karl holds back a wince at the sharp contrast, squinting at the screen with tired eyes and heavy limbs.

A yawn tears from Sapnap’s throat. Karl looks over, notes the endearing way the other man's mouth stretches wide open to let the yawn fully pass through, and lets the domesticity of it all soak into his skin.

Just minutes prior, he’d been tossing and turning in his bed, staring wide-awake at a plain ceiling with dim city lights glowing through his window. Yet now, here, with Sapnap barely an arm’s length away and his presence soothing off all the jarring time difference, he feels exhaustion lap at the edges of his consciousness.

Maybe it’s that exhaustion that makes him shift. Maybe it’s that exhaustion that prompts his blurry mind to allow himself to move over, close the almost awkward distance between him and Sapnap, and lean into the other’s side.

Sapnap, gentle and warm and cooperative, welcomes him wordlessly.

Karl almost feels guilty.

Pressed up against Sapnap, all he can feel is comfort. It’s inexplicable and nearly _strange_ , he thinks — the unadulterated sense of safety he feels whenever Sapnap is around. It’s a kind of feeling he’s never gotten anywhere else. 

A kind of feeling he never _wants_ to get anywhere else.

With Sapnap’s slow, soft breaths in his ear and the glow of the television hypnotising in the bleary distance, Karl lets his eyelids droop shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fluff after what happened with el rapids so that we all can heal :thumbsup: 
> 
> this fic will have seven chapters, and updates will be every week hopefully!!! thank you so much for reading, your support and encouragement (be it through comments or kudos) is what motivates me to keep on writing :)) love you!!
> 
> come find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/vrealitical) i swear i'm not scary :D alternatively you can check out my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/vreaa) i guess but i'm never ever there


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